Barcelona Vs Real Madrid [4-3] La Liga 2024/2025: Hansi Flick Set-Piece Tactics & Possession Control – Tactical Analysis

Barcelona faced Real Madrid at the Estadi Olímpic de Montjuïc, for the 35th fixture of La Liga.

The match ended 4-3 for the Blaugrana.

This was a roller-coaster of goals, especially during the first half.

Barcelona’s outstanding attacking performance was countered by Real Madrid’s efforts to equalise, but unfortunately, Kylian Mbappé’s three goals were not enough for them to keep their title hopes alive.

With this crucial win, Barcelona are getting very close to lifting their 28th La Liga trophy with 82 points so far, while Carlo Ancelotti’s Real Madrid remain in second with 75 points.

In this tactical analysis, we will explore Barcelona’s efficient attacking performance and how they exploited Real Madrid’s defensive mistakes while identifying what went wrong for Los Merengues in both the attacking and defensive phases.

Barcelona Vs Real Madrid Lineups & Formations

Hansi Flick started the match according to the 4-2-3-1 formation with Wojciech Szczęsny as a goalkeeper, Eric García as a right-back, Pau Cubarsí and Iñigo Martínez as centre-backs, with Gerard Martín playing as a left-back.

Like in the UEFA Champions League semi-finals against Inter Milan, the midfield was composed of Pedri and Frenkie de Jong as central midfielders, Lamine Yamal and Raphinha as wingers, Dani Olmo as an advanced playmaker, with the main striker being Ferran Torres.

As the game went on, Flick had to make several changes to his initial squad, introducing Alejandro Balde, Gavi, Andreas Christensen, Fermín López, and Héctor Fort.

Carlo Ancelotti also started the match according to the 4-2-3-1 formation with Thibaut Courtois as a goalkeeper, Lucas Vázquez as a right-back, Aurélien Tchouaméni and Raúl Asencio as centre-backs, and Fran García as a left-back.

In midfield, Ancelotti used both Dani Ceballos and Federico Valverde as central midfielders, Jude Bellingham as an advanced playmaker, Vinícius Júnior and Arda Güler as wingers, with Mbappé as the team’s main striker.

Giving little playing time to someone like Brahim Díaz in this match and during the season overall is problematic, as Díaz proved on many occasions that he can represent a valuable asset, especially in terms of linking the team’s midfield and attack, helping have more possession, and piercing with the ball whenever possible.

Playing a veteran player like Luka Modrić during the second half was understandable, as his passing quality could have made the difference for Real Madrid.

Later, Ancelotti subbed in Endrick and Víctor Muñoz but kept Rodrygo on the bench.

Ancelotti can be blamed for his second-half management of changes.

He could have done better to make Real Madrid capable of equalising and scoring the winning goal.

However, taking more risks could have also led to a catastrophic result since Barcelona remained dangerous in the second half and created more problems for Real Madrid.

Barcelona Set-Piece Tactics

During this match, Barcelona were capable of creating a lot of danger, whether from open play or set-pieces.

In both cases, Barcelona showed that they were prepared for this encounter despite the impact of the previous tiring match against Inter Milan.

In terms of set pieces, Barcelona had 10 corners with four shots and four free-kicks with one shot.

Meanwhile, for Real Madrid, the team had zero free-kicks and two corners without shots.

This confirms the fact that Barcelona created more set-piece opportunities for themselves and exploited them well, as the numbers are obvious.

Barcelona started with various plans for corners and free kicks, but the main idea was to confuse Real Madrid’s defence either by passing the ball and trying to cross in a surprising way after the man-marking became inefficient or by crossing directly but with a few tricks.

When it comes to free-kicks, Barcelona did their best to attack the space and avoid the man-marking that was applied during most of their free-kicks.

Although Barcelona were not able to score from direct or indirect free kicks, their ideas and intentions were shown in some of these free kicks.

Barcelona Misleading Movements In Free-kicks

The following example highlights some of Barcelona’s intention to mislead Real Madrid’s players and oblige them to get away from the box.

The players in question tried to lean either backwards or towards the wings, leaving more room for their teammates inside the box.

At the same time, Barcelona had more players close to the near post but aimed some of their free-kicks to the far post, with the intention to shoot if not marked or try to pass the ball to the near post if unable to shoot freely.

That’s what happened during this set-piece, but unfortunately for Barcelona, Iñigo Martínez was tightly marked in this action, and that’s why he was not able to touch the ball.

Barcelona tried to vary their free-kick plans soon after, sensing that doing so would be useful in confusing Real Madrid’s defensive system.

They were so close to doing so, but only lacked some accuracy to execute their plans without errors.

The next free-kick highlights this creative change of ideas almost with each new free-kick.

Barcelona Alternation Of Free-Kick Plans

Here, Raphinha slowly moves to the edge of the box while remaining distant from the marking zone.

Olmo notices him and shows that he is going to cross towards the box, but he orients his cross towards Raphinha without the needed accuracy.

Although the ball reached Raphinha in the end, he was not capable of achieving the initial plan.

The idea was to shoot as soon as he received the ball, but that was not possible.

He did not get the ball in a suitable shooting position, and therefore, he was obliged to cross.

Barcelona was more successful and crucial with corners in this game, as they tried a variety of plans as they did with free kicks.

In fact, two plans were recurrent in this match: passing to a teammate who comes near the touchline and then making the cross—attracting one or two Real Madrid defenders to the corner area by having a player waiting for a pass and exploiting this numerical superiority inside the box by making a direct cross.

This second option worked for Barcelona during their first goal, mainly thanks to another idea that made things complicated for Real Madrid.

Barcelona Corner-Kick Goal

Torres’ mission was to stay at the near post and attract a player or two while making the movement towards the cross, making Real Madrid’s players advance in the direction of the coming cross and leave some space between the near and the far post.

That’s exactly the space that García would attack here, knowing that he was unmarked at the beginning of the action.

As soon as the ball was crossed, he made the needed run towards that space to surprise the passive defender (Asencio), who did not advance to mark García initially but tried to do so only when García came near him.

Barcelona High Line & Misleading Progressive Movements Without The Ball

Barcelona’s ball possession which reached 62.13% in this match, their excellent ball control of their players, and constant movement without the ball into space made things easier for Barcelona after they conceded the two initial goals and helped them become much more dangerous.

Barcelona Second Goal Action

Barcelona’s second goal action highlights the uniqueness of Barcelona’s playing style and especially the chemistry existing and developing between their players.

This chemistry is not only developed by training, but also thanks to each player’s excellent control of the ball, protection of the ball, vision, dribbling in tight spaces, and accurate passing.

Having these attributes for each of the midfield and attacking players, including the striker Torres, makes things easier for Barcelona.

In this goal action, we notice the importance of Barcelona’s high defensive line, which helps them have more possession and attack in more numbers.

Their switch of play from one wing to the other makes it difficult for the opposing defence to follow up with tight marking.

Torres’ remarkable work to conserve the ball and dribble past an opponent as soon as he received it before passing to Raphina highlights the use of Torres not as a stationary striker but rather as one who retreats, provides passes, and contributes to the playmaking process.

As the ball goes to Pedri, the latter penetrates towards the box with the help of Torres, who in turn provides a surprising pass to Yamal (given that Real Madrid were more prepared for a pass to Pedri who was making the misleading progressive movement to the box and was followed by Real Madrid’s players).

Yamal exploited this hesitation among Real Madrid’s defence.

He spotted a shooting trajectory between the players and took the curved shot perfectly, surprising everyone, including the goalkeeper, who was not able to save it.

Real Madrid Collective & Individual Defensive Mistakes

Although Real Madrid were excellent during the first minutes of the game and succeeded in scoring two goals, they could not deal with Barcelona’s consecutive attacks and the rhythm they imposed on Real Madrid.

This added to the lack of ideas both in attack and in defence, led to several individual and collective mistakes that helped Barcelona score four goals and could have led to conceding even more goals.

Real Madrid Third Goal Mistakes

Perhaps one of the most remarkable mistakes occurred during the third goal action when both Mbappé and Ceballos left the ball to the opponent due to a communication misunderstanding.

This led to conceding a crucial counter-attack that was very difficult to defend against, mainly because Raphinha was left with a lot of space in front of him, and the whole defensive line was not organised as needed during that surprising counter-attack.

Moreover, it is unacceptable to make control mistakes when you are the last defender with an opponent coming to press high on you.

Real Madrid (Vázquez) Fatal Defensive Error

This is what happened with Vázquez in the fourth goal action.

He lost the ball to Raphinha, offering Barcelona a goalscoring opportunity, which they exploited with success.

Such individual mistakes highlight the team’s lack of concentration, which was noticeable for many of Real Madrid’s players during their performance in this match.

Conclusion

Barcelona succeeded in quickly forgetting what happened in Milan and confirmed once again that they have the winning mentality and strong personality needed to win titles.

They also confirmed that they deserve to win La Liga this season.

On the other hand, many tactical adjustments are needed for Real Madrid ahead of next season in order to find the right balance, defend better, and be more organised with clear attacking plans and organisation.